Zeiss Ikon 207 Series questions

[Jim_in_Kyiv]

I have a new beast sitting on my table - picked up a Zeiss Ikon 207/1. I've got a few questions about it and any information would be great.

First off, I can't find any references to a 207/1 on the net. The /3 and above, yes, but not a /1. What are the differences?

The lens is a G. Leitmyer 135mm f /4.5 Doppel Anastigmat set in a Compur shutter. What was the relationship between Leitmeyr and Zeiss when this thing was put together? Had Leitmeyr been merged into the firm or did they supply lenses for Zeiss under their name for a while?

It isn't in bad shape. The ground glass is missing and the assembly where is goes is not original. I'm not worried - it looks good anyway and slides off so that my much newer Zeiss 9x12- 120 roll film adapter will slip on. Still, the idea is to use 9x12 sheets with it when I can. Since I'm accustomed to backs like the one on the Speed Graphic I had in the States, could anyone give me some ideas for using sheets with this thing without using the holders that I'm accustomed to?

Any comments on the lens? I thought of using it for B&W, no seperation or fungus, and the shutter sounds about right.

Like I wrote, any information would be great.
Thanks.

 

[Dan Fromm]

Zeiss Ikon was a camera manufacturer, actually a combine of camera manufacturers, and was not a captive customer of Carl Zeiss the lens maker. Both were, if I understand it correctly, owned by the Carl Zeiss Foundation. I once asked Charlie Barringer, co-author, with M. J. Small, of the Zeiss-Ikon Compendium, if the Novar lenses found on so many Z-I folding cameras were made my Zeiss. He told me that the lenses were made to Z-I specs by any of a number of lens makers.

The Vade Mecum says little about Georg Leitmeyr, a Munich firm. Nothing at all there about a Leitmeyr-Zeiss connection.